The pride of those drunken leaders will be trampled underfoot.

The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. Their sins make them stumble and fall, and the people of Judah fall with them.

I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: my people have defiled themselves by worshiping idols.

Even the prophets and the priests are so drunk that they stagger. They have drunk so much wine and liquor that they stumble in confusion. The prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them.

You are doomed! You get up early in the morning to start drinking, and you spend long evenings getting drunk.

You are doomed! Heroes of the wine bottle! Brave and fearless when it comes to mixing drinks!

Show me people who drink too much, who have to try out fancy drinks, and I will show you people who are miserable and sorry for themselves, always causing trouble and always complaining. Their eyes are bloodshot, and they have bruises that could have been avoided.

The LORD says, "Wine, both old and new, is robbing my people of their senses!

On the day of the king's celebration they made the king and his officials drunk and foolish with wine.

At every place of worship people sleep on clothing that they have taken from the poor as security for debts. In the temple of their God they drink wine which they have taken from those who owe them money.

But you made the nazirites drink wine, and ordered the prophets not to speak my message.

You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest perfumes, but you do not mourn over the ruin of Israel.

The fading glory of those proud leaders will disappear like the first figs of the season, picked and eaten as soon as they are ripe.

Why? Because Syria is no stronger than Damascus, its capital city, and Damascus is no stronger than King Rezin. As for Israel, within sixty-five years it will be too shattered to survive as a nation.

Israel is no stronger than Samaria, its capital city, and Samaria is no stronger than King Pekah. "If your faith is not enduring, you will not endure."

Before the boy is old enough to say 'Mamma' and 'Daddy,' all the wealth of Damascus and all the loot of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

He reconquered all the territory that had belonged to Israel, from Hamath Pass in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. This was what the LORD, the God of Israel, had promised through his servant the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath Hepher.

But it was not the LORD's purpose to destroy Israel completely and forever, so he rescued them through King Jeroboam II.

It was while Pekah was king that Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor, and the territories of Gilead, Galilee, and Naphtali, and took the people to Assyria as prisoners.

In the third year of the siege Samaria fell; this was the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of Hoshea's reign.

Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the LORD their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the LORD. They would not listen and they would not obey.

(SEE 28:5)

Messengers went out at the command of the king and his officials through all Judah and Israel with the following invitation: "People of Israel, you have survived the Assyrian conquest of the land. Now return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to you.

Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the LORD their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.

How terrible it will be for you that have such an easy life in Zion and for you that feel safe in Samaria---you great leaders of this great nation Israel, you to whom the people go for help!